Costa Allegra is in the process of being towed to Mahe in the Seychelles by a French Fishing boat after a fire disabled her electrical panel.The ship is expected to arrive in Mahe by morning local time (3/1).
Statements from Costa Cruises Website Concerning Costa Allegra Fire Below.
Wednesday, February 29th 2012
Time 5.30 pm (CET)
Members of Costa Cruises’ Care Team have reached and boarded Costa Allegra.
Team members met with guests to assess their needs upon disembarkation.
So far, 376 guests out of 627 have accepted Costa Cruises’ proposal to continue their
vacation in Seychelles. They will be accommodated at Costa Cruises’ expense, in high-quality
hotels on the following islands: Praslin, La Digue, Silhouette and Cerfs.
Costa Cruises also will arrange homeward flights at the end of their vacation. The
remaining 251 guests decided to return to their homes on flights arranged by Costa Cruises,
departing Mahé Thursday evening, March 1.
Time 11.30 am (CET)
Following the latest contact with Costa Allegra — currently under tow to Mahé, Seychelles —
Costa Cruises reports that the situation on board is stable and weather conditions are good.
Arrival time of the ship at Mahé on Thursday, March 1, is subject to change according to
speed and sea weather conditions. Currently, arrival is expected at 9 a.m. Seychelles time
(1 a.m. ET). Costa is constantly updating authorities involved in the operation following
each contact with the ship.
Within the next few hours Costa’s "Care Team" will reach the ship, and team members will
immediately begin working to achieve repatriation of all guests. At the same time, members
of "Care Team" based on the island are organizing hospitality services for guests and arranging
air charter transfers. Costa has optioned more than 600 airline seats to facilitate guest
travel and more than 400 hotel rooms have been reserved for guests’ accommodations needs.
On board soft drinks and cold foods such as fruits, cold cuts and cheeses are being served.
Mineral water is provided for personal hygiene needs. Fresh bread is delivered daily via helicopter.
Tuesday, February 28th 2012
Time 07.00 pm (CET)
This afternoon around 12:30 p.m. CET (3:30 p.m. Seychelles time; 6:30 a.m. ET) the two tugs and a
second ocean-going fishing vessel reached Costa Allegra to assist the ship. Costa Allegra
continues to be towed by French-flagged fishing ship Trévignon and is maintaining a speed
of about 6 knots. At the current speed and with stable weather conditions Costa Allegra is
expected to arrive at Mahé, Seychelles, in the early morning of Thursday, March 1.
Wednesday Costa expects the arrival of a helicopter to deliver about 400 flashlights
and fresh bread. There is sufficient food and other comfort items on board. Also, thanks
to the arrival of a small generator delivered by a local Navy ship that is present on site,
the ship crew is doing everything possible to make the situation on board more comfortable
by trying to restore basic services.
Early this afternoon Costa Cruises’ Care Team arrived at Mahé. The group of 14 people
includes executives and managers as well as specialized technicians. The team is tasked
with providing assistance to the ship, guests and crewmembers on their arrival at Mahé.
Upon arriving Care Team members immediately met with local authorities and those
responsible for rescue coordination to arrange operational details of guests’ arrival
at the island. Top priority was given to securing necessary accommodations at local
hotels and organizing an efficient process for making guests’ travel arrangements.
Eight members of the Care Team will board Costa Allegra tomorrow morning via a local
Navy ship to meet guests and discuss arrangements with them and to assist the ship’s
staff in thorough technical inspections. With the Costa Care Team will be two officers
from Seychelles Immigration to facilitate customs procedures.
Time 1.00 pm (CET)
Costa Cruises informs that in view of extensive and accurate checks carried out with
local maritime experts’ support, in order to ensure the safety of our guests on board,
the disembarkation on Desroches island cannot be performed and therefore it has been
decided that the ship will be towed to Mahé / Seychelles. The disembarkation in
Desroches does not assure the necessary and adequate security conditions for mooring
the ship and guests’ disembarkation. In addition, logistics and hotels on the island
are not enough: it would require an immediate transfer from Desroches to Mahé through
Ferries after disembarking the ship through tenders. Thus the ship will be towed to Mahé,
also with the assistance of two tugs that are approaching the ship and that would allow to
increase the speed. The arrival in Mahé expected during the morning (local time) on Thursday,
March 1, just few hours after the possible arrival to Mahé from Desroches through Ferries.
Helicopters will ensure continuous supply of food, comfort items, flashlights in order to
mitigate guests discomfort given the difficult conditions on board. Costa Cruises is working
with all the Authorities responsible for the coordination of the emergency, to ensure the
best possible assistance to all our guests and make their discomfort as short as possible
and to reach their next destination. The Company is sincerely sorry for the inconvenience:
absolute priority is to make it as short as possible.
Time 09.30 am (CET)
The risk of fire is the one traditionally considered most seriously risk on board a ship
or a boat and is therefore the subject of special preventive measures, training of personnel
and plans for active protection.All ships, from the design and building stages in the yard,
are built using criteria and materials making them safe and reliable from the point of view
of fire prevention.
As provided for by the various international regulations and the Company’s
procedures, all fire protection systems and equipment are subjected to regular
tests, trials and inspections. In the event of a fire, the ship’s structure itself
is designed in order to isolate the fire, thus making it more manageable and less dangerous.
To this end the ship is divided into main vertical areas, separated by special metal bulkheads
of large thickness equipped with special fire doors with the same characteristics as the bulkheads,
which, once closed, manually or from the navigating bridge, are fire-retarding divisions.
The ventilation, air extraction and conditioning ducts are equipped with special fire dampers
which automatically close in the event of high temperature in order to stop the air flow,
in order to avoid to feed the fire.
All ship spaces, including crew and passenger accommodation spaces, are equipped with fire
detectors automatically signalling the presence of smoke or high temperature to the navigating
bridge. Moreover, any person aboard can signal the outbreak of a fire by means of the numerous
manually operated alarms located throughout the vessel. If the temperature reaches high levels,
thousands of sprinkler heads (atomisation plants/sprinklers), located on ceilings, are automatically
activated. Some particularly hazardous spaces are protected by fixed fire-extinguishing systems
(i.e. carbon dioxide for machinery spaces, steam for the galley kitchenette hoods, nebulized water
for the deep-fryer, etc.).
Throughout the vessel and in all spaces there are also hundreds of portable fire extinguishers
of different kinds (for use in different types of fires) and permanent stations equipped with
fire hoses connected to a pressurised water plant.
The effectiveness of all fire-fighting equipment is ensured by regular maintenance and testing
according to a precise schedule with set intervals. Fire-fighting teams, consisting of highly
qualified trained experts are always aboard and take part in regular drills. In addition, all
crewmembers participate in practical training sessions and theory courses during which they are
taught how to react in case of fire or smoke, the use of fire-fighting equipment and procedures
to be followed.
These measures allowed to bring promptly under control and extinguish the fire broke out in the
local generators on Costa Allegra.
Time 08.30 am (CET)
An helicopter took off from Mahè this morning and it is arriving to the area where Costa Allegra
is located, bringing to the ship both food and communication devices (satellite phones and VHF radios).
The weather is good. Guests were invited to prepare their luggage in order to be ready for the
time of disembarkation. The ship is expected to arrive to Desroches island tomorrow morning.
Time 07.30 am (CET)
Costa Allegra, since last night, has been towed by the French ocean-going fishing vessel Trevignon.
The ship is being towed in the direction of Desroches Island. Guests on board are continuously
informed and assisted by the captain and the staff; a cold breakfast was served this morning.
Time 00.00 am (CET)
The French ocean-going fishing ship reached Costa Allegra and the two captains are in radio contact.
At dawn Costa will evaluate the assistance operations the fishing vessel can provide.
Monday, February 27th 2012
Time 11.00 pm (CET)
As of 10 p.m. CET, Monday tonight, after having contacted all the 627 passengers contact emergency
numbers, Costa Crociere reached families or relatives of 402 passengers (excluding the nine Italian
marines on board for security reasons). All the crew families/relatives have been contacted, either
directly by the company or through its manning agent.
Time 10.00 pm (CET)
The first boat expected to reach Costa Allegra during the next few hours is a French-flagged,
295-foot-long (90 meters) ocean-going fishing ship. Another ship of similar size currently is
sailing toward Costa Allegra and will join two merchant ships and two tugboats expected to arrive
tomorrow afternoon.
Upon arrival of the first ship, its captain will decide how to operate, depending on weather
and ship conditions, to best support Costa Allegra.
Currently, Costa Allegra is steady and conditions are safe.
Costa Cruises is keeping in touch with guests' families via their emergency-contact numbers.
The line also is communicating with the families of crew, most of whom are Italian and eastern
European, through local crew-recruiting organizations.
Costa Allegra is in compliance with all certificates required by both national and international
regulations. Moreover, in October 2011 the ship received its regularly scheduled maintenance in dry dock.
Time 6.30 pm (CET)
The number 954-266-5693 is active.
Time 4.00 pm (CET)
Costa Cruises confirms that today at 10:39 CET a fire broke out on board Costa Allegra in the
electric generator room. The shipboard fire-extinguishing system and emergency procedures were
activated promptly and special fire-fighting squads extinguished the fire.
The fire did not spread to any other area of the ship. There were no injuries or casualties.
Inspections of the engine room are ongoing to determine if the equipment can be restarted.
As a precaution, the general emergency alarm was sounded and all passengers and crewmembers not
engaged in the management of the emergency reported to their muster stations.
Currently the ship is more than 200 miles southwest of the Seychelles and approximately 20 miles from
Alphonse Island. Tugboats and other naval and aerial units have been dispatched to Costa Allegra.
According to standard procedures, Costa Allegra transmitted a distress signal and the relevant authorities
were alerted, including the Maritime Rescue Control Center in Rome, Italy. Costa Crociere and the relevant
authorities are actively the situation.
On board Costa Allegra are 636 passengers of various nationalities and 413 crewmembers.
The ship departed Saturday, Feb. 25, from Diego Suarez, Madagascar, and was cruising toward
the port of Victoria (Mahè, Seychelles) where it was scheduled to arrive tomorrow Feb. 28.
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